German Centre for Cardiovascular Research

Parvovirus B19 infections in paediatric sickle cell disease patients: Genotype and hydroxyurea treatment influence disease severity

Summary In patients with sickle cell disease (SCD), parvovirus B19 infection (B19V) leads to acute anaemia (aplastic crisis), but may also be associated with other serious complications. We retrospectively analysed clinical data from paediatric SCD patients with B19V infections b...

Minigene-based characterization and classification of splice-associated variants in succinate dehydrogenase B

Abstract Pathogenic germline variants in SDHB are associated with an increased risk for tumors such as pheochromocytoma and paraganglioma. However, limited functional evidence for rare variants poses a major challenge for clinical decision making. To systematically investigate po...

Quality standards for preclinical research in cardio-oncology

Preclinical research in cancer therapy-related cardiovascular toxicity (CTR-CVT) is a major domain of cardio-oncology and has provided biological explanation for the cardiovascular adverse effects of many cancer therapies. However, the choice of the experimental models to investi...

Blood flow coordinates collective endothelial cell migration during vascular plexus formation and promotes angiogenic sprout regression via vegfr3/flt4

Nascent vascular networks adapt to the increasing metabolic demands of growing tissues by expanding via angiogenesis. As vascular networks expand, blood vessels remodel, progressively refining vascular connectivity to generate a more haemodynamically efficient network. This is dr...

Antithrombotic therapy after percutaneous coronary intervention in patients with atrial fibrillation: an individual patient data network meta-analysis

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Randomized trials demonstrated that in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) direct oral anticoagulants (DOAC) and a P2Y12 inhibitor reduce bleeding compared with vitamin K antagonist (VKA) plus dual antipl...

Brugada Syndrome in the Pediatric Population: Diagnostic Challenges and Clinical Outcome—Results of the German Multicenter Study COGIA

ABSTRACT Introduction Diagnosis and treatment of children and adolescents with suspected Brugada syndrome (BrS) is challenging. Aim of the study was to evaluate the applicability of current diagnostic criteria for pediatric patients with suspected BrS in the German multicenter st...

Timing of PCI in Patients Undergoing Transcatheter Aortic-Valve Implantation

BackgroundApproximately one half of patients undergoing transcatheter aortic-valve implantation (TAVI) have concomitant coronary artery disease. Although percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is often performed before TAVI, the preferred treatment strategy has not been establi...

Tricuspid-Valve Intervention in Heart Failure

BackgroundThe effect of transcatheter tricuspid-valve repair on clinical outcomes, including death and hospitalization for heart failure, in patients with severe tricuspid regurgitation remains uncertain. MethodsWe randomly assigned patients with symptomatic severe tricuspid regu...

Multimodal quantitative MRI finds early brain changes in asymptomatic X-linked adrenoleukodystrophy

Abstract Adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD) is an X-linked recessive disease caused by defects in the ABCD1 gene, leading to the accumulation of very long chain fatty acids in the nervous system, adrenal glands, blood, and other tissues. Male ALD patients may present with either the seve...

MCL‐1 inhibition triggers a largely reversible cardiac stress signature in a humanised mouse model

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Myeloid cell leukaemia-1 (MCL-1) is an essential anti-apoptotic protein and a promising therapeutic target in oncology. Early clinical studies of MCL-1 inhibitors reported unexpected elevations in cardiac troponin, raising concerns about potential cardioto...

Sigh ventilation versus conventional protective ventilation in cardiac surgery: a proof-of-concept randomized controlled trial

Lung protective ventilation is crucial for preventing ventilator-induced lung injury in cardiac surgery. The protective role of a low tidal volume (V T ) has been established, whereas the added protection afforded by lung recruitment remains uncertain. We investigated whether sig...

Histological aging signatures for monitoring tissue-specific aging and disease

Aging is the primary risk factor for chronic disease and is characterized by profound structural and architectural remodeling of human tissues. Here, we present a comprehensive assessment of these changes using 25,712 whole-slide histopathological images from 40 tissue types acro...

CMR-based aortic stiffness parameters in a symptomatic high risk obstructive sleep apnea cohort: results from the population-based Hamburg City Health Study

Abstract Background Aortic stiffness (AS) parameters as pulse wave velocity (PWV), aortic distensibility of the ascending and descending aorta (AD AoAsc, AD AoDesc) and pulse pressure (PP) are marker for vascular ageing, whereas data concerning obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) in po...

Acute kidney injury and renal replacement therapy: a critical synthesis of metabolic derangements and nutritional implications

Acute kidney injury (AKI) affects up to 50% of critically ill patients and is frequently complicated by severe metabolic derangements, requiring the initiation of replacement therapy (RRT) in 10–15% of cases. Despite substantial progress in the diagnosis of AKI and optimisation o...

Learning from Biodegradable Coronary Stents: Future Directions for TPVR Biodegradable Stents

Bioresorbable stents (BRS) have been explored in cardiovascular intervention to provide temporary mechanical support while reducing long-term foreign material. The coronary experience has shown both the potential and the limitations of this strategy. First-generation polymeric st...

Reproducible analysis and structured dataset for "Toward clinical-grade deep learning in coronary angiography: a systematic review"

This record contains the structured dataset and analysis code accompanying the systematic review "Toward clinical-grade deep learning in coronary angiography". The dataset comprises extracted study characteristics and quality appraisal results for the included studies, together w...

Tirzepatide and the risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular events: population based cohort study

Abstract Objective To estimate the magnitude of reduction in major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) that would be observed in clinical practice from adding tirzepatide to standard of care treatment. Design Population based cohort study, using a design, data, and analytical ap...

Webinars about child and adolescent psychiatry can support professionals in war-affected regions: lessons from the ESCAP-Ukraine webinar initiative

War has a profound impact on child and adolescent mental health and service provision. This requires creative internationally supported response to strengthen professional capacity in trauma care, psychosocial support and evidence based clinical practice in child and adolescent p...

From Gene Editing to Exogenesis: Pigs as a Source of Immune-compatible Organs for Transplantation

The persistent shortage of human organs for transplantation has intensified efforts to develop alternative sources, specifically xenotransplantation and exogenesis. Xenotransplantation uses genetically engineered pigs to provide organs, tissues, and cells for clinical use. Signif...

Investigating changes in the blood-brain barrier in schizophrenia spectrum disorders: design and methodology of a longitudinal dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI study

Schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSDs) are clinically and biologically heterogeneous and lack reliable biomarkers for stratification, treatment response and course prediction. Evidence from postmortem, fluid biomarker, and neuroimaging studies suggests that changes in the blood-...